In The News 04-20-2012

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Mike
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April 19, 2012 @ 12:39 PM
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In The News 04-20-2012Your Weekly Update In The World Of Technology

Put Away Your Card, Pick Up Your Phone

Do you ever use your phone to pay for a transaction, whether it be your morning coffee, or simply buying an app? You’re definitely not alone as a recent survey by Pew Internet & American Life Project has shown that nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents believed the “mobile” wallet will replace the traditional wallet by 2020. The mobile wallet refers to using your mobile device to take care of financial transactions. As of now, 38% of smartphone users have already used the phone to make a purchase. Add to the stats that show that 46% of the same users have purchased an app and one-third use their phone for mobile banking.

Warning: Math Ahead

These stats may be a bit misleading however. ComScore released information back in February that stated 42 percent of all mobile users in the US had smartphones in 2011. Currently an estimated 234 million Americans use mobile devices, which makes just over 98 million with smartphones. Of that 98 million, only 37 million would have made purchases with their phone. Compare that to the total US population of 313 million people. Smartphone use is continuing to grow, however, with a 15 percent increase (of total mobile users) switching to the more advanced devices between 2010 and 2011. What do you think, do you think we will be seeing a vast majority of our financial transactions being completed with smartphones in 8 years?

Ads, Ads, and… Ads

Revenue from internet ads hit an all time high in 2011, according to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The report states that ad revenue reached $31 billion which is a 22% increase over 2010’s revenue. It may also come as no surprise that the top category of ads with the highest growth was mobile-based advertising. The $1.6 billion in ad revenue from mobile-based ads shows a 149% growth but is also a small fraction of the overall total. Other categories with growth included digital video ads, display advertising, and ads that show up in and around search results and search engines. The latter holds the biggest share of total revenue with 47%.

The increase in revenue is a sign that advertisers are putting their ads in the proper place for people to see. More and more individuals are using the Internet, making it an easy target for new ads. While most people may not be a fan of internet ads, these ads often help to generate revenue for websites that offer free content. YouTube, many online news sources, and even WorldStart are examples of sites that do this. Google even has its share of ads located in various places during a Google search.